Ooh noo, Amewica has da fat people! GASP!

[SeaRex]

60% of Americans are obese? Hmm. That must be like how 60% of the British have deplorable oral hygiene, 60% of the French don't bathe, and 60% of Arab men beat their wives*. Shocking.

Well, of course it's shocking. It's sensationalism. Anyone can make an arbitrary, random statistic look credible. And whose going to argue with it? Besides the people that the statistic actually concern, of course, but no one will believe them.

I can tell you right now that, unless I live in an extremely atypical part of the country (which I doubt), six out of ten people here are not obese. And yes, I'm taking into account people who may not be "blatantly" obese. Of course, all of these studies would have you believe that 60% of Americans weigh 300lbs or something ridiculous like that. All you need is a couple of camera shots with two fat people in close proximity.

Although I'm not quite sure I like the way Dipstikk presents his argument, I must say that I do share his blind rage. I mean, the whole situation is maddening. Nothing irks me more than a person of a certain nationality, including and especially American, complaining about a country that they have never visited, and in all likelihood, never will. It does nothing but drive us apart as a species. We only seem to be so concerned about how different we are.

And before anyone calls me a hypocrite, like I'm complaining about Britain in general or something stupid like that, let me just reiterate that this is, sadly, a universal epidemic. Practically every country with a media outlet skews and flat-out fabricates data and information, and America is perhaps more guilty than anyone.

* Not actual figures, obviously.

[Nate]

Hear-hear SeaRex.

In my travels around and about the United States I've found that some places definately have a higher rate of obesity than others. Here in California, absolutely everyone has 0% body fat and perfect abs (oh, how I hate them!). But back in Maine I think there has been a government-sponsored program of inbreeding as (sentence rewritten for politeness) there is a higher rate of obesity and general unattractiveness than in any normal population.

[mitsur]

If someone said that to me when I was a little bulky I'd take it as an offence too, dude...

Havoc, It was supposed to be a imaginative scene from my school. Maybe he was a fast grower or something. Don't freak out. I have to use my *Does the hand-rainbow-thing from Spongebob* iiiimaaagggiiinnnaaattiiiooonnn

[Kamille]

havoc I hear what your saying but I can't help but laugh about the people who are like omg I can't stop eating, its funny but true you see that alot in the US

[Havoc]

Havoc, It was supposed to be a imaginative scene from my school. Maybe he was a fast grower or something. Don't freak out. I have to use my *Does the hand-rainbow-thing from Spongebob* iiiimaaagggiiinnnaaattiiiooonnn

I know that... you just chose a very stupid example.

[mitsur]

I know that... you just chose a very stupid example.

Thanks, now my self-confidence has just lowered. I think i'll go cry in a corner now....

But really, one of the worst part is how people try to 'It's not my fault I can't keep eating! I just can't help myself!' It's just complete bull. When you hit 400 pounds, then you should put a lock on the food area, or get help.

[Fuzzle Guy]

2/3 of the population on the Isle of Man is overweight, and even though we only have 75,049 people on the Island (Well, my Auntie had a baby the other day so I'll add one onto that ) Theoretically, that makes us, (Not America) the fattest place in the world.

[Dino]

People tend to forget that even without society's pressures, humans will find skinny people more sexually attractive as they are generally more likely to be very healthy (with the exception of those that are anorexic), this is a really primitive reproductive instinct, healthy mate = healthy babies. So even without magazines to tell us that skinny is good, we'd still find skinny more attractive than fat.

As for SeaRex's comments about statistics... just who do you believe when it comes to statistics? When it comes from the BBC news studio, who have no political interests, no advertising, and have already made all their money through people paying their TV licenses, would you still write it off as sensationalism if they stated that a recent study has shown that 60% of America is obese?

Sure some people don't like these statistics, they don't like what they have to say about their country even if the statistics don't apply to them, and they will refute them until they're blue in the face. That doesn't however change any facts. If it is true, and I can't say for certain it is because I don't know the weight of every single American alive today, then it's shocking. But what I can say is if you've ever lived in the UK, you'll know that the fattest of the fat people in America are VASTLY heavier than even the most morbidly obese people in the UK. The statistics of what Americans consume, all point to a high intake of fatty, high calorie foods, mainly junk food. Unless they're buying this stuff and then throwing it into a big black shit-generating hole, it's safe to conclude that they're eating this stuff. So it certainly looks to me like the kind of environment in which a large proportion of the population are either obese or getting there.

Again, statistics can be fabricated, but just how far does the statistic fabrication conspiricy need to go just to sensationalise some news story? Wal-Mart, McDonalds, Burger King, Taco Bell, and official statistics released from many other junk-food-outlets/junk-food-selling-supermarkets as well as various health related organisations would have to be fabricated in a massive conspiracy to make America LOOK like it's fatter than it is... for what? What would be the goal of doing that? Sure maybe some of the news statistics are fabricated, but why would there be a majority of market statistics that agree with the a majority of news media statistics? I'm not saying that it's not the case that these aren't fabricated, because I have no way of actually proving one way or another... but I find it more logical to conclude that the statistics are real.

[Nate]

People tend to forget that even without society's pressures, humans will find skinny people more sexually attractive as they are generally more likely to be very healthy (with the exception of those that are anorexic), this is a really primitive reproductive instinct, healthy mate = healthy babies. So even without magazines to tell us that skinny is good, we'd still find skinny more attractive than fat.

Correct... to a degree.

Yes, I agree that people would be genetically attracted to people who are not fat. But I don't think they would necessarily be attracted to skinny people as a pregnant woman/mother should have about 10-15% body fat (I'm not sure the exact numbers but it's about there). In terms of men it would probably have more to do with musculature and overall body shape than the amount of fat on top of that (within limits, of course).

[Dipstikk]

People tend to forget that even without society's pressures, humans will find skinny people more sexually attractive as they are generally more likely to be very healthy (with the exception of those that are anorexic), this is a really primitive reproductive instinct, healthy mate = healthy babies. So even without magazines to tell us that skinny is good, we'd still find skinny more attractive than fat.

The healthy mate= healthy babies thing I agree with. But that's not the only thing that factors into attractiveness. What about fertility idols? They were obviously made as a symbol of attraction, and (as the name states) fertility. It's something to do with the hips being larger, I think. Someone elaborate on this, if you could. And to quote NDW:

200 years ago a well-proportioned woman was considered the picture of beauty - if you were skinny it meant you didn't have the money to eat. Now it costs more to eat healthy than to eat every meal in a fast food restaurant or pull out a tv dinner.